WHO Recommends NOT to Use Ibuprofen For Treating COVID-19 Symptoms

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended people not to use Ibuprofen if they are suffering from coronavirus symptoms. This statement was released after the French health officials warned about the possible health complications of using anti-inflammatory medicines like ibuprofen for treating coronavirus signs and symptoms. The health experts believe that this medicine could make viral effects worse.

The warning, initially shared by France’s Health Minister, Veran was based on a recently published study in the journal “The Lancet”. The study investigated the effect of common anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen on coronavirus cases to know if it alleviates the symptoms or makes them worse.

The World Health Organization (WHO)’s spokesman Christian Lindmeier earlier shared with the media reporters in Geneva that the agency’s medical experts are looking forward to more evidence to ensure if this medicine should be used by a coronavirus positive patient or not.  He said;

“In the meantime, we recommend using rather paracetamol and do not use ibuprofen as self-medication. That’s important.”

He further added in his statement that this medicine, ibuprofen is currently “prescribed by the healthcare professionals, then, of course, that’s up to them.”

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However these comments were made after Veran shared a tweet warning about the dangers of ibuprofen and other similar drugs by the patients of coronavirus, with relevance to the study mentioned bore.

The tweet said that this medicine could be “an aggravating factor” for all  COVID-19 patients. He further advised all patients as; “In the case of fever, take paracetamol,” in the same tweet. However, it must be used within the safe dosage limit or else it might cause liver damage.

France’s health minister has emphasized that all suspects and confirmed patients should not be given anti-inflammatory drugs without confirming from a medical expert.

The current COVID-19 pandemic has caused fear and chaos worldwide where it has infected more than 190,000 people and killed approximately 7,800 people. Although its symptoms are mostly mild in many people still it could lead to further health complications such as pneumonia, multiple organ failure and eventually death.

Before this infection was declared as a pandemic, the French officials showed concern over potential complications. And some of them were linked with certain medicines such as ibuprofen. Ibuprofen is manufactured and traded under various names such as Advil, Nurofen, Brufen, etc.

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Reckitt Benckiser is a famous pharmaceutical company of UK manufacturers Nurofen. In an email-based statement, the company said that it was concerned about the alarming complications of ibuprofen for coronavirus patients. The company’s spokesperson shared that;

“Consumer safety is our number one priority.”

The spokesperson further added that ibuprofen is a safe medicine for self-healing fever and body pain. The statement writes that;

“We do not currently believe there is any proven scientific evidence linking over-the-counter use of ibuprofen to the aggravation of COVID-19.”

It also shared that the company, Reckitt Benckiser is currently “engaging with the WHO, EMA (the European Medicines Agency) and other local health authorities” as to this current issue and soon it would issue ” additional information or guidance necessary for the safe use of our products following any such evaluation.”